Another way to go
by smileylaugh
Summary: An alternative version to the fanfic The Darkness Within the rewrite from kurinoone. What would have happened if Damien hadn't freed Harry the night the Death Eaters attacked. Starting in chapter 38. If you haven't read her story you won't be able to understand the story.


This is another version of what could have happened had Damien not freed Harry in the darkness within the rewrite. Hope you enjoy it.

Sadly I don't own Harry Potter nor kurinoones version of Harry Potter.

" _They're here." Harry breathed, straining the ropes._

 _Damien turned around, staring at him._

" _You knew?" he asked. "You knew they were coming?"_

 _Harry looked desperately at the door._

" _Damien, I need you to do something." Harry said, ignoring his question, "go to Draco and tell him to send the signal. He has to stop the Death Eaters. He'll know what to do."_

 _But Damien was in shock. His mind could only focus on one thing._

" _How can Death Eaters be here?" he asked, "Hogwarts is too well protected."_

" _Nothing can be protected forever." Harry replied. "Go, Damien, please."_

Damien was at loss at what to do. He couldn't let Harry escape without getting in trouble and letting his big brother bag to that monster, he called father. No James had to fix everything. He trusted his father not to judge his brother to harsh after learning the circumstances that occurred. With a last look at his elderly brother, Damien left the room.

He didn't need to venture far to find Draco close to the gate with the rest of the students. They all seemed rather shocked at the turn of events. Luckily, nobody had done anything stupid yet. Damien could see Ginny blocking Neville from going out, as he ran towards Malfoy. Malfoy seemed to understand Damien's intention and headed towards his younger fellow. After sharing hated glance, Damien told the Slytherin what Harry had previously told him. After explaining Harry's capture, he could have sworn to see a small flash of empathy flashing over the hated Slytherin. He was surprised to actually see concern on the blond boys face. He never thought a Malfoy could care for anybody other that himself. After Malfoy rushed off Damien moved towards his best friends. They were still standing at the entrance staring out at the ongoing battle. He could only hope that Malfoy would hurry up before it got any worth. Hermione pulled the younger one into her arms, trying to comfort him. Even though she tried to appear calm, he could see the terror in her eyes.

"Everything will be alright."

She whispered, more saying it to herself than him.

After about 5 minutes later, the Death Eaters just left all at once. The tension started to leave the bodies of the surrounding students.

As James headed into the room, Harry was kept him, he felt his stomach growl. After witnessing parts of his sons past, he could only feel depressed. He was blaming himself for not being able to protect his eldest. He trusted the wrong person and Harry had to suffer for it. As he spotted Harry sitting in the same chair they left him, his heart missed a beat. Harry must have tried everything to get free as his wrists were still bleeding. As he caught Harry's gaze, he felt even worse. The boy glared at him with a hate he never wanted to experience from anyone, least of all his son. But after what he learned today, he stopped blaming Harry. He actually admired the brave boy for holding his temper and mostly keeping calm. Now James needed to convince Harry that it wasn't him who tortured him. That would not be an easy task. He wanted to try with first of all trusting him. The thought that this boy had just tried to kill him and nearly succeed a few hours ago completely wiped of his mind.

"Harry?" James started, trying to get the boy to look up but Harry just refused. "I am sorry about what I said earlier. I need you to understand that I would never hurt you whatever you might do. "

"It is a little late for that, don't you think?" Harry snapped.

James gasped at the surprising comment. Harry never addressed the issue, he would always stop himself before his tongue gave away the truth. But also could hear that something in his son had broken after the failed mission to flee.

"And for that I am sorry." James didn't know what to say, so he pulled out Harry's ring. As Harry's gaze caught the ring in James hands, James could hear him taking in a sharp breath. As he twisted the ring in his hands James thought about what to next. After a few tensed moments he put the ring at the table and turned towards Harry. Seeing the confused look in his eldest son, he elaborated.

"I know you think of me as a liar and a pretender. And after seeing what you have experienced in your pensive, I must admit I gave you lesser credit than you deserve. "

He saw in Harry's eyes that his worst fear had just been confirmed. The hurt which shone in Harry's eyes, was one which no one should experience. But sadly destiny is not that friendly.

"I will make you a deal. You listen to what I have to say and afterwards I will unbind you and won't mention what happened today again."

Harry didn't agree but they both knew that James wasn't really leaving Harry with a choice.

"Shortly after you were born a prophecy stating you would be the downfall, emerged, endangering all our lives. "

"That crap again? Please, Potter, this is getting kinda old don't you think?" James could hear the anger as Harry spoke.

"Are you that keen on going to Azkaban?" That seemed to quiten the stubborn boy.

"Shortly after you were born a prophecy was made and we went into hiding. I know that you are aware of what a Fidelus charm is. At the beginning, we wanted Sirius to be secret keeper but he convinced us that it might be smarter to use a decoy. As a result, we chose another friend of mine, named Peter. Everything was great in the first year. We were in hiding but we had each other. "

Harry glared at him but James needed to say what he planned. He hoped it might convince Harry to doubt his memories. It was worth a try. He continued. His voice was barely a whisper.

"Then the night came, where he betrayed us. Peter just took you and ran. He must have brought you to Voldemort. We lost you that faithful night and it was my entire fault. Shortly after, a corpse of a boy was found and we believed it to be yours. I was so depressed afterwards. I often didn't even manage to go to work. It only got better after Damien was born. He was always a troublemaker, even then. "

Pausing and looking at the reaction of the Harry, James felt a small smile force his way into his face. He remembered Damien being trouble ever since he was born. A true marauder.

"When we found you, 4 months ago, it was short a miracle. I hoped we would be a family again. Damien always wanted a brother to keep him company. It felt just like a dream come true. And no matter how you will treat us, you will always be family. I need you to know that. I know you think what you remember to be the truth, but I hope you learn to question it. I love you Harry and I hate that I couldn't protect you. I couldn't protect the innocence of that boy who I held in my arms shortly after he was born. I will let you go now but please think about what I said. And ask yourself why you can't remember Damien even though you ran away from home when you were 4, making Damien one year old. And ask yourself why we would do something like that."

That did it. Harry was suppressing the anger to shout throughout the whole speech, not fancying the other option of Azkaban very much. "That's what I would like to know!"

James just looked at him hurt. Then he pulled out his wand and released Harry from his restrains. The boy just looked at him one more time with disgust and ran out of the room, leaving a heartbroken James.

The next morning, Harry got up early. He barely slept the entire night. Not only had he missed his chance to kill Potter and to escape, but also he had to endure a lecture from Potter. How dare he pretend like Harry's memories were false. He remembers everything. Every little punch, every little kick. Not only did the face of James Potter hunt him in his wake but also at nights. But the thing which annoyed Harry the most that a small part, however small it might be, believed him. James had always acted civil towards him and tonight he wondered why he possibly couldn't remember Damien. Annoyed that he even doubted his memories, he left the dorm and headed towards the common room. Damien already sat at a table looking at Harry. He had dark circles under his eyes. Harry guessed that he wasn't the only one who spend a sleepless night. He sat down opposite of the table.

"I am sorry but I couldn't let you go." Damien whispered.

Harry could see the heartbroken expression. He didn't blame the boy. He would have booked himself a one-way-trip to Azkaban. Deciding, he wouldn't be able to speak about yesterday, he changed topic.

"Want to get some breakfast?" Damien only seemed to manage a nod and they headed towards the Great Hall. Just when they were about to leave the room they ran into McGonagall.

"I am sorry, Mr. Potter but I need you to come to Dumbledore's office. There are some matters we need to discuss."

"I don't think there is any need." He wanted to pass by. He really wasn't in the mood to hear another lecture from anyone about prophecies and such bullshit.

"I am sorry Mr. Potter, but I wasn't leaving you an option." She turned around gesturing for him to follow. With an apologizing look he left Damien standing in the door. Just one look told him that the boy feared for his elder brother.

"Go ahead, Damien. I will join you as soon as I am done."

With that he followed the professor.

She led him to Dumbledore's office without saying another word. Once inside the office she left him. Quite a group had gathered in the small office. He spotted Aurors from the Order like Moody and Kingsley but also Ministry Aurors. They all looked at him with deep seated disgust. The only ones who smiled at him sadly were Kingsley and Dumbledore himself. As soon as Harry walked into the room he knew this conversation would be uncomfortable. He was relieved not to spot Potter under the crowd.

"Mr. Potter, would you please sit down." Dumbledore gestured for Harry to sit. He knew not to refuse. After the attack on Hogwarts everybody seemed on edge and they needed him to take the blame. If there was a way to avoid going to the infamous wizard prison it would be in admitting defeat and conform to their wishes. Dumbledore seemed relieved as Harry sat down.

An Auror, which Harry hadn't seen before, took charge.

"Mr. Potter, as you are probably are aware, yesterday a group of Death Eaters attacked the grounds of Hogwarts, leaving 4 dead Aurors behind. Could you explain what they would to at Hogwarts?"

Harry tried to stay calm, he knew he was on the verge to go to Azkaban and he always feared the infamous Dementors of Azkaban. For once, he knew he needed to behave. Not that he would willingly share any information of value.

"As you might be aware I spend the last few months held in this school. How would I know what Voldemort might be planning?"

His voice trembled, barely keeping is anger at bay.

"So you say that those Death Eaters weren't here to rescue you?" he retorted.

"Of course, they were here for him. Why else would they come? He has been in contact with them ever since he came here. He got that guard killed and now he almost escaped. He doesn't belong here, he belongs into Azkaban." Moody answered for him. Harry could hear agreeing mutters.

"Don't you think that if they came here to help me escape, I would have been long gone by now. I could have easily stepped through that door and have been gone. It would have been too late for you to notice. You are just a stupid of useless idiots."

Every single person stopped talking. Harry knew that he made a point. The Aurors were busy fighting Voldemort's followers, so why didn't Harry escape? The only person knowing the truth was Dumbledore but he seemed to want to keep his mouth shut about last night as well. Though he would never admit it but Harry was grateful that Dumbledore for once seemed to want to help him. He even helped Harry out of his uncomfortably situation with saying:

"Gentlemen please, Harry has been here for four month now, doing nothing to hurt anybody. Even saving for students. There is no evidence connecting Harry to any Death Eaters. Without being able to connect anyone, he couldn't have known about their plans. I suggest before you accuse him again you get some evidence." Nobody seemed to want to disagree with Dumbledore, so everyone started to leave. Only Moody and Kingsley stayed looking at Harry. Moody seemed ready to kill Harry anytime. Suddenly Moody pulled out a small red band out of his pocket. Immediately realizing the Bartha-Bracelet Harry tried to leave the room but Kingsley stopped him.

"I finally got the Minister to agree. After the attack he seemed rather eager to make sure, you have no chance to escape again. I once told you that you deserve to be kept like a dog, because that's exactly what you are. "Moody laughed. He seemed to enjoy the tortured look in Harry's eyes.

"That's enough, Alastair! I will discuss this with Kingsley, would you please be so kind to leave."

Moody looked everything but happy but had nothing to counter Dumbledore. He handed the Bartha to Kingsley and left the room. Dumbledore started to whisper to Kingsley, arguing. After a few minutes they both came over.

"I am sorry Harry but there is nothing I can do. The Minister decided that the risk of you escaping is too big. "

Dumbledore started but Harry looked away. He would have to wear that thing again and who knows for how long. Kingsley held up a bracelet. Harry already started to prepare himself for the humiliating moment but nothing happened. Kingsley apparently had something to add. Another look at the bracelet and Harry spotted that the bracelet was slightly different from the one Moody had used.

"You already know what a Bartha-Bracelet is and I am sorry for doing this but it has to be done. This is slightly different one. It would only hurt you when you try to leave the grounds of Hogwarts. Otherwise, even if you try to pull it off, which by the way won't work, nothing will happen. I guarantee you that much. "

Kingsley pointed his wand at Harry and Harry was once again wearing the humiliating bracelet keeping him within certain boundaries.

"You may leave." As soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth Harry ran out of the room not being able to hold the tears for any longer.

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